Bob Dobbs wrote:
dave wrote:

I don't see any sport in receiving a 50 KW station, period.

Depending on the distance and adjacent stations,
even 50KW might seem a bit light.
Sometimes the 'sport' is in being able to dig something out from under a
strong local on an adjacent freq. Here in San Diego I use the blowtorch
KKOB 770 w/50KW (over 620 miles away) as a selectivity test against the
local KFMB 760 w/50KW night time (about 6 miles away) and aimed right at
me. Of the several receivers I have of varying capability, the results
aren't always consistent. There are times when a simple AM sync-det will
suffice, or switching to the upper sideband with reduced bandwidth and
other times when I have to use a very narrow bandwidth combined with a
significant shift of the passband.
Last night was a rough one as propagation didn't give any favor to NM.
Even 80m amateur was soft. Weird as WWV 2.5 and 5 were both strong,
maybe some piezoelectric effect of the lithosphere.
Are we due for an earthquake?


Always. I blame HAARP, not the lithosphere. I listen to 720, 740, 760,
770,780,790 and 810. I use my old Drake SW2 and a 60' random wire.

I have a GAP Titan DX vertical that's 35' straight up. All I have room
for (besides the RX antennas). My R-390A was a really good DX receiver;
pain in the ass to maintain and a power hog.

Bob Dobbs wrote:
Mark S. Holden wrote:
An advantage Ten-tec has over Icom is they seem to be better about
supporting discontinued models. They'll also try to talk an owner
through diagnosing and fixing a radio on the phone.

With the proliferation of SMD, there's not much an 'owner' can do,
combined with the low failure rate for Icom, probably doesn't justify an
extensive customer phone support facility.


You can swap-out boards inside. Ten Tec is very sparse inside. SMD's
fun. You just need to be able to see what you're doing and you must
have the right tip.

Bob Dobbs wrote:
dave wrote:
Always. I blame HAARP,

That's a UHF gimmick that is designed to affect the ionosphere which at
night isn't as much a player as the lithosphere hugging "D" layer for
the frequencies I was referring to (low SW and MW)

I listen to 720, 740, 760,
770,780,790 and 810.

Do you have any blowtorches nearby
or is your isolated location an ideal?

I use my old Drake SW2 and a 60' random wire.

I have an indeterminate length wire (several hundred feet or more)
but it's plagued with noise here in town.


I have a 1 KW days/0.5 KW nights directional on 1220 about a mile away.
It makes single conversion AM radios whistle on other MW stations, but
it's too wimpy to affect any the Ten Tec or the ICOM or the Drake. It
might screw with the HF-150, which has a naked front-end.

I'm in the middle of a bedroom community with underground utilities.
The houses are all stucco with wire lath and foil faced insulation. It
is usually very quiet here.

Bob Dobbs wrote:
dave wrote:
Bob Dobbs wrote:
Mark S. Holden wrote:
An advantage Ten-tec has over Icom is they seem to be better about
supporting discontinued models. They'll also try to talk an owner
through diagnosing and fixing a radio on the phone.
With the proliferation of SMD, there's not much an 'owner' can do,
combined with the low failure rate for Icom, probably doesn't justify an
extensive customer phone support facility.

You can swap-out boards inside. Ten Tec is very sparse inside. SMD's
fun. You just need to be able to see what you're doing and you must
have the right tip.

I've got some pretty serious 'coke bottles' but still don't do much with
SMD other than to do MARS/CAP mods occasionally.


You can rig a camera with a microscope and watch what you're doing on a
computer. Do you shake?

Mark S. Holden wrote:
John Plimmer wrote:
On Oct 14, 7:47 pm, dave wrote:
John, the best receivers in the world are made here in the USA and in
Italy; why would Steve want a sand box from Asia?


Dave they make transceivers and they are not the best for our type of
SW/MW DXing, where top line audio is required. The K3 is no good on MW
at all and the audio is poor. The TT radio's are mainly on ham bands
only and their general coverage receive is mediocre.

Hams that want top audio always go for Icom = they are tops.

As for specs, you have to compare apples with apples. Sherwood tests
the radio's on the narrowest CW filter setting. If they were tested on
AM with a 4.5 kHz filter the Icom would come out way tops.

JP

Most of the hams I know who are looking for great audio are heading in
the direction of Ten-tec or Flex.

The Ten-tec Omni VII is general coverage, and I've heard very favorable
things about it's performance. The Orions have GC on the second
receiver though it's admittedly not as good as the primary rx. The Flex
radios are also GC.

An advantage Ten-tec has over Icom is they seem to be better about
supporting discontinued models. They'll also try to talk an owner
through diagnosing and fixing a radio on the phone.

I've read less about the Flex service as they're a newer company with a
smaller customer base. Frankly, while I've got plenty of computers
scattered about the house, I'm not excited about a radio that depends on
a computer to run.

Ten-tec and Flex are both made in the USA.

I'm researching HF rigs now, and at the moment, I'm leaning to the Omni
VII or possibly a Harris RF-5000 Falcon.

Mark, TT is first rate on service. on a trip south, i dropped off a 340,
my oldest son talked me out of. just wanted a tune up/ check it over,
maybe bring the old girl up to factory specs. 2 weeks later, i stopped
on the way back for pick-up. they not only cleaned it, brought it/alined
to factory specs, they up dated the software. the price was under
$50.00. i was floored. great service. now, if they had only got the
RX-350 right the first time. and, on another note, Harris is cool.
never used their service, but for a big buck, gov. type company, they
are great phone wise. got a RF-590H i use for ALE. it's like 10 maybe
12 years old. i had questions, they treated me like i just spent $15K
for a new receiver. all i can say is good people.

Drifter...